OK ... so I didn't technically provide ya'll with the traditional Early Half-Nekkid Thursday from Guam.
And I heard about it.
And I just can't resist the whinging whining of wacko wenches ... LOL
So, I present to you the LATE HNT from Guam ... while simultaneously also participating in TequilaGirl's Fuck You Friday.
Also ... tonight is a fancy dinner with two dear friends ... followed by karaoke, pool and darts at a going away party for a good buddy, Jojo, who's leaving the newspaper to open his own restaurant.
So ... that takes care of the "get out there and do something" crowd.
:oP
From the news wire ...
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Diamonds are no longer a girl's best friend, according to a new U.S. study that found three of four women would prefer a new plasma TV to a diamond necklace.
The survey, commissioned by U.S. cable television's Oxygen Network that is owned and operated by women, found the technology gender gap has virtually closed with the majority of women snapping up new technology and using it easily.
The study found 77 percent of women surveyed would prefer a new plasma television to a diamond solitaire necklace and 56 percent would opt for a new plasma TV over a weekend vacation in Florida.
OK ... are you shitting me here?
Ladies ... would you really prefer a plasma flat screen to diamonds? Does this change the whole engagement equation?
"Darling, take this TV as a sign of my everlasting love for you and be my bride ..."
What is it, chickiepoos? TV or diamond jewelry?
oh ... and don't you hate it when you lay down to watch a little television and pass out for four hours, waking up after 2 a.m. and realizing that although you've just woken up, it's already time to go to sleep?
*yawn*
sorry I missed you this morning, baby ;)
OK ... seems as if I didn't make myself as clear as I thought I did in the post below, and looking back at it now, with fresh eyes, I can see how that might have happened. I started off trying to make one point and got a bit long-winded and rambling, as I sometimes do when I blog straight into the Blogger interface and don't look things over with my editorial eye.
Oh well ... c'est la vie.
To those of you who offered support, thanks. To those of you who offered advice, thanks also.
Here's something most people don't know about me.
You ready for it? You probably won't believe it, but I swear to you that it's true.
Are you sure you really want to know this?
OK ... but don't say you weren't warned.
I don't like people.
There. I said it. Well, wrote it.
Now this doesn't mean I don't like any people; there are certainly some that I do like to different extents. There are even some I love.
I mean in general. MOST people. Mankind in general.
My Favorite Person has often said to me that I'm a snob, that I'm snobbish. Perhaps she's right. But it's not that I think that I am better than other people; I readily recognize my many flaws. My problem is that I AM very smart ... and no, that's not bragging, that's just a fact. I'm not always the smartest and I have known people and had friends who are/were smarter than me. I know there are a hell of a lot of people out there who are much smarter than me.
But you know what? There are multitudes more who are not.
Now I don't look down on those people; well, not MOST of them. But I don't suffer fools well. I can't stand people who choose to be ignorant, who are inflexible in mind and rigid in thinking. You know those people -- the ones who, even if they are presented with overwhelming evidence that they're wrong, that things aren't how they see/interpret things, they won't, they CAN'T, change their minds. They refuse to budge.
And, unfortunately, too many people, both stupid and smart, are annoying. Sometimes they can't help it, it's just who they are. They don't mean to be irritating; they just ARE. They grate on you, work your last nerve, and are oblivious to it. They can't be helped, won't change, don't see any reason too.
If that makes me a snob, to some degree, then I guess that's what I am. Mea culpa.
I used to have lots of friends. I learned to make friends easily and quickly because I had to. My dad was in the Air Force, which meant we moved about every two or three years. If you don't learn this skill as a child of a military man, you're screwed. You become a loner, an outcast.
So every time I moved I quickly made news sets of friends. Some I kept longer than others, depending if they moved or we moved.
But things always change; that is the nature of life, of the universe. Nothing remains static or it becomes stagnant. Friends you hang out with all the time for several years move, get married, have kids, get different jobs, develop different interests. Friends drift apart without ever meaning to or wanting to do so. It just happens. You start seeing less and less of each other. You try to make plans, but their new things get in the way of the old things you used to do.
You can't -- and I don't -- fault people for changing, for moving on with their lives in different directions, for getting new priorities. You both/all try to keep things at least partially the way they were, hang on to the vestiges of what once was.
After experiencing this again and again and again over the years, it begins to wear on you. You start seeing and experiencing the signs of the same things happening that have happened before. That's when you get to that "what's the point?' stage. You start to accept what you get, to take what happens and just let it. You don't fight or struggle any longer. You just go with the flow. After all, why should it be YOU who are always the one doing all the work to preserve and extend and sustain the friendship. You start thinking that if they don't care about your relationship as much as you, why should you bother? And so you start not to ... bother, that is.
As for romantic relationships ... do I really even want to go there?
OK ... why the hell not? Basically, it boils down to this: There's only so much sustained and repeated rejection that a person can take. Every successive instance makes it that much harder to try again another time.
The question that is often posed is: "Is it better to have loved, and lost, than never have loved at all?"
For me, that's not the question. For me, it's: "Is it better to have BEEN loved, and lost, than never BEEN loved at all?"
The answer to that query summarizes my "romantic" life quite plainly and succinctly. There are only so many times someone can hear, "I love you BUT ... (not in that way, as a friend, like a brother ... take your pick)."
Geeze. I did it again. I'm sure this post will elicit similar comments to the one below. Feel free. But please spare me the whole "there are plenty of fish in the sea" and similar trite aphorisms. I've heard them all before.
A lot of the rationale behind this post and the previous on is that I like to whine, wallow, sulk, pout ... again, choose the definition that you think best fits. Part of it is to expunge and purge. And to just blather.
In any event, I'm done ... at least for now.
After all, I have $570 in poker winnings that I have to figure out how to spend.
We now return you to your normal Diatribe.
I realize that some of my regular readers aren't really getting the DZER "fix" they say they need on any kind of regular basis.
I would apologize ... but I don't think there's really anything to be apologetic about. I haven't even been commenting as much as I usually do, and even then the comments are usually short and uninvolved. I am reading your blogs ... if and when I don't comment, it's usually because I don't feel I have anything of substance to contribute to the conversation.
I can't offer any real and meaningful advice on dating, relationships, marriage, divorce or anything like that. My last girlfriend was ... almost 10 years ago? Fuck! I'll spare you from the details about the total lack of a sex life and how long it's been since anything.
My life is dull. It's routine. It's less than ordinary.
DZER in his office environs ...
I sleep. I work. I blog a little and comment a little. I play poker, both here on Guam and online. I golf a bit. I read and watch TV and DVDs. I hardly ever go out to parties, to the movies, to the mall, to the beach, to other attractions, to anywhere. I don't hang out with people except at the office, and not really all that much there either. I don't go out for drinks after work, or to someone's home for dinner or game night. I used to eat out at restaurants pretty much every day for lunch, usually with a co-worker or two or three or more. Now, I eat at home, either something I make here or grab on the way home, alone.
Hell, I hardly ever chat with anyone online, whether it's in Yahoo Messenger or ICQ or in chat rooms. Phone calls with anyone, either online friends or IRL friends, near or far, are near nonexistent.
And probably the worst thing about it all is that, for the most part and for most of the time, I really don't care all that much. Would I like for my life to be filled more with friends and dates and relationships? Yes. Am I willing to put any real effort into making that happen?
No. Not really.
I guess it's one of those things. You get worn down from always putting in effort and seeing all that effort be for naught. You try again, expending even more time and energy. Things fall apart again, or just change. You do it again. And again. After a while, it starts to seem increasingly pointless. Why even bother trying any further? Why not just cut your losses and accept your lot in life?
Wow.
That turned out to be a rather long-winded, wallowing, self-pitying sounding post. It wasn't intended to be. I just wanted to share some of the reasons by my relative absence, or at least my decreased presence.
I was telling My Favorite Person a little earlier in this very early morning (my Wednesday, her Tuesday), that I've been contemplating starting a totally new, anonymous blog where I can vent more about things that I can't do here (self-censorhip, mostly). But that would be yet another thing to try to maintain, like the recently expunged, and totally unmissed, DZEROTICA blog. Or my photo blog, which hasn't been updated in forever ... well, until today. One more thing upon which to expend time, energy and effort.
That's also the reason that the Random Guam Fact Of The Day hasn't been seen -- or apparently misses -- in a long time. It's why you haven't seen Lil' Deeze around in weeks and weeks.
It just doesn't seem worth it.
OK ... haven't really had any meaningul posts for awhile ... and still don't. LOL
But I do have some things I've been meaning to post and haven't, thanks to: 1) my laziness; 2) my procrastinatory tendencies; 3) online poker.
HE AIN'T HEAVY (AND) HE'S MY BROTHER
A few weeks ago, a familar name popped up in my comments. My regular readers might have noticed that my youngest brother, Mark, aka The Missouri Savage, is now a regular reader/commenter on my blog. He also has his own blog, which you can (and should!) visit by clicking on his blogger I.D. above ... mucho appreciado for My Favorite Person for already doing so. I'm happy for him because he finally got a comment from someone other than me and My Favorite Person.
Mark was born almost 7 years after I was born. His birthday is Jan. 14. Mine is Jan. 15. Since I was born in 1969, he is a bicentennial baby. Of course, as a kid I hated this, because it meant the old "combined birthday" thing. My frugal and sensible parents were not about to throw two birthday parties on back-to-back days ... whose would?
And yes, I realize we look very much alike. If you want to see what I would look like if I lost a hundred pounds and change, was a couple inches shorter and could actually grow facial hair, all you have to do is look at Mark. Hmm ... maybe we can team up on a fake diet product ... me as the before pic, him just 6 months later after taking our miracle pill! LOL
As I alluded to in the previous paragraph, Mark is the only one of the George Boys who can grow real facial hair. My other brother, James, and I can grow light moustaches, but that's about it. Mark, on the other hand, is half Yeti, I think. LOL ... I've always been envious of that ability, because I want a cool beard/moustache thing! *sigh* James' talent is the ability to go out in the sun, burn a bright red, go to sleep, and wake up with a bronze tan. And if you don't know my special talent already, I'm not telling you! LOL
The George Boys are tall ... I'm about 6'5" ... James is about 6'4" ... and Mark is about 6"3", I think. We all can also burp on command ... but then again, so can the George Girls ... LOL
Mark is also an artist. He can weave, carve, bend wire and, if you read one of his older posts, he's also something of a smith ... he's even got a forge! He makes some really cool things ... I have a shark he made out of wire ... and if I remember right, I had him make a metal rose that I gave to My Favorite Person. Hopefully, he'll post some pics of some of his work.
OK ... enough about him!
MAIL CALL!!!
• Thanks to Madame X, my bounty of $2 bills has increased! We were chatting one day and I told her how I thought $2 bills were really cool, and that I had one or two. She mentioned that she had a bunch and said she'd send me some. I didn't think anything of it, because she's promised me homemade cookies and I've never received them! LOL ... But the Madame came through on the strange denominations, so I now have two more $2 bills ... thanks, doll!!
• And my fellow hacker, Knight, couldn't resist rubbing it in that he played at one of the Meccas of golf, Oakmont Country Club. He sent me an official scorecard from the majestic place ... that lucky bastard!!
SUNDAY GOLF WITH THE GODSONS
S and I went out again earlier today, with the godsons, A and J, of course. It was a beautiful day for golf. Sunny and clear pretty much the entire time. We got a little sprinkle of rain for a couple of minutes on the back nine, but then it cleared up until we were turning in the golf carts ... perfect timing!!
I started the day with a birdie ... nice drive, perfect wedge to 10 feet, smoothly stroked putt that just dropped in. Unfortunately, I couldn't sustain the momentum. I shot a 95 — no pars at all; all bogeys and double bogeys after the birdie. I left 2 par putts just barely short of the whole, and had 4 par putts just skirt the edges, as well as one bogey putt. I should have broken 90 with the way I was playing, but just couldn't put everything together for any other holes. Oh well ... it was still a good day and any time under 100 is a good day ... and so is any day playing golf with the boys.
A is just sooooo into it. He starts bugging his dad about when we're playing again about Wednesday. Last week, he went to sleep with his driver! LOL And he's started to get several good smacks off the tee on a regular basis. Today, he made three putts of about 5 to 8 feet. Jordan had fun too, though he did sleep through 2-1/2 holes. "I'm tired, Nino" ... zap. A little while later: "How long was I asleep, Nino?" LOL
OK, that's it ... hope you all had a good weekend.
DZER in his office environs ...
A few weeks ago, a familar name popped up in my comments. My regular readers might have noticed that my youngest brother, Mark, aka The Missouri Savage, is now a regular reader/commenter on my blog. He also has his own blog, which you can (and should!) visit by clicking on his blogger I.D. above ... mucho appreciado for My Favorite Person for already doing so. I'm happy for him because he finally got a comment from someone other than me and My Favorite Person.
A is just sooooo into it. He starts bugging his dad about when we're playing again about Wednesday. Last week, he went to sleep with his driver! LOL And he's started to get several good smacks off the tee on a regular basis. Today, he made three putts of about 5 to 8 feet. Jordan had fun too, though he did sleep through 2-1/2 holes. "I'm tired, Nino" ... zap. A little while later: "How long was I asleep, Nino?" LOL